Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-117809, filed on Apr. 28, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an instrument panel and a shield member of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an instrument panel of a vehicle, there is known an instrument panel including a movable mechanism such as a tilt mechanism or a telescopic mechanism, where the tilt mechanism allows a steering column to be tilted relative to an instrument panel body and the telescopic mechanism allows the steering column to move in a telescopic manner relative to the instrument panel body. Likewise, in the case where the steering column is configured to be movable relative to the instrument panel body, a gap between the instrument panel body and the steering column changes. For this reason, it is necessary to shield the changing gap. As the related art of a shielding technique, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H07-329793 discloses a technique for shielding an opening in such a manner that outer walls protrude from both left and right sides of an opening of an instrument panel body and rubber boots of a steering column are provided on the inside of the outer walls. Further, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-54419 discloses a technique for shielding a front side of a column cover in such a manner that a flexible curtain extends from a column support and the curtain enters a portion below an upper portion of a column cover of a steering column. Furthermore, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2008-18857 discloses a technique in which a flexible shield cover is provided between an upper edge of an opening of an instrument panel body and an upper portion of a column cover.
However, in the case where the instrument panel is formed as a member separated from the shield member, an assembling process becomes complex upon attaching the shield member to the instrument panel and the steering column so as to give a good appearance. In addition, it is difficult to adjust to cover a gap between respective members. For this reason, it is necessary to realize the simpler component structure so as to further improve the quality of commodities.
An object of the present invention is to provide an instrument panel and a shield member capable of simplifying an assembling process and of improving the quality of commodities by shielding a gap between an instrument panel body and a column cover so as to have a good appearance.